Harvard Club servers sue over tips

Say they get no share of 17% surcharge

The exclusive Harvard Club of Boston, which for more than a century has hosted former presidents and other luminaries, is being sued by its wait staff, who say they have been cheated out of potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars in tips.

According to a lawsuit filed yesterday in Suffolk Superior Court, members of the private alumni club pay a 17 percent surcharge on food and beverage bills (20 percent for banquets), which the club states is collected “in lieu of a gratuity.’’ But workers say they do not get a cent of that money.